PMID: 16466744 , Related PDB ids: 2FH1, 2FH2, 2FH3, 2FH4

Authors:

Chumnarnsilpa S, Loonchanta A, Xue B, Choe H, Urosev D, Wang H, Lindberg U, Burtnick LD, Robinson RC

Title:

Calcium ion exchange in crystalline gelsolin.

Journal:

J Mol Biol. 2006 Mar 31;357(3):773-82. Epub 2006 Jan 26.

Abstract:

Gelsolin is a calcium and pH-sensitive modulator of actin filament length. Here, we use X-ray crystallography to examine the extraction and exchange of calcium ions from their binding sites in different crystalline forms of the activated N and C-terminal halves of gelsolin, G1-G3 and G4-G6, respectively. We demonstrate that the combination of calcium and low pH activating conditions do not induce conformational changes in G4-G6 beyond those elicited by calcium alone. EGTA is able to remove calcium ions bound to the type I and type II metal ion-binding sites in G4-G6. Constrained by crystal contacts and stabilized by interdomain interaction surfaces, the gross structure of calcium-depleted G4-G6 remains that of the activated form. However, high-resolution details of changes in the ion-binding sites may represent the initial steps toward restoration of the arrangement of domains found in the calcium-free inactive form of gelsolin in solution. Furthermore, bathing crystals with the trivalent calcium ion mimic, Tb3+, results in anomalous scattering data that permit unequivocal localization of terbium ions in each of the proposed type I and type II ion-binding sites of both halves of gelsolin. In contrast to predictions based on solution studies, we find that no calcium ion is immune to exchange.